Cost Analysis

Every time a customer opens an account, the system makes calls to a dozen or more external APIs — PAN (Permanent Account Number) verification, bank penny drop, KRA (KYC Registration Agency) lookup, e-Sign, and so on. Each call has a per-transaction cost. This page breaks down those costs so you can understand the economics of onboarding: what each integration costs, what the total per-customer cost looks like under different scenarios, and where there are opportunities to optimize.

You will refer back to this page during vendor selection discussions, budget planning, or when someone asks “why are we paying Rs.X per onboarding?”

Per-Transaction Costs

The table below shows the recommended vendor for each integration point alongside the cheapest alternative. Costs are approximate and subject to volume-based negotiation.

Integration	Recommended	Cost/txn	Cheapest Alt	Cost
PAN Verify	Decentro	Rs.1-3	Sandbox.co.in	Rs.1-2
Bank Verify (Penny Drop)	Decentro	Rs.2-5	Cashfree	Rs.2-4
KRA Lookup/Submit	Digio	Rs.3-5	CVL Direct	Rs.2-3
CKYC (Central KYC) Search/Upload	Decentro	Rs.3-10	TrackWizz	Rs.5-10
e-Sign	Digio	Rs.15-25	Protean	Rs.5.90
OCR (per doc)	HyperVerge	Rs.1-3	IDfy	Rs.1-3
Face Match	HyperVerge	Rs.1-2	IDfy	Rs.1-2
AML (Anti-Money Laundering) Screening	TrackWizz	Rs.5-15	IDfy	Rs.8-20
Video KYC (if needed)	HyperVerge	Rs.30-50	Signzy	Contact
Income Verify (AA, if F&O)	Setu AA	Rs.5-25	Perfios ITR	Rs.15-50
Device Intelligence (optional)	Bureau.id	Contact	—	—

In plain English: the most expensive single integration is Video KYC at Rs.30-50 per session, but it is only used when the DigiLocker path is not available. The largest cost across all onboardings is e-Sign at Rs.15-25 per transaction, since every customer goes through it.

Total Cost per Onboarding

Scenario	Cost Range
Recommended stack	Rs.85-175 (with AA income verify for F&O)
Cheapest stack	Rs.50-100 (equity-only, no F&O)
Setu consolidation	Rs.70-130 (unified PAN+bank+eSign pricing)

Equity-only vs F&O onboarding

Customers who only want equity cash trading cost significantly less to onboard because they skip income verification and the additional VIPV (Video In-Person Verification) that some F&O (Futures and Options) workflows require. When projecting costs, segment your customer base by expected segment mix.

Cost Optimization Strategies

• Setu consolidation: Unified pricing for PAN + bank + eSign can reduce per-unit costs
• Leegality for eSign: Zero license fee + pay-per-success model reduces eSign costs significantly
• DigiLocker path: Saves Rs.30-50/customer vs manual upload + VIPV (see DigiLocker cost comparison)
• Account Aggregator: Eliminates manual income proof upload for F&O activation
• Volume negotiations: Most vendors offer slab-based pricing at 10K+ onboardings/month

Note

These costs do not include infrastructure costs (servers, storage, bandwidth), exchange registration fees, or depository charges. They cover vendor API fees only.